• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, March 3, 2021

Austin-based agency Proof Advertising has added two agency veterans to its leadership team.

Craig Markus has been named executive creative director and John Kottmann joins as Chief Strategy Officer.

The hires reunite the two with Proof Advertising owner Bryan Christian. They’ve worked together on and off throughout their careers.

“COVID-19 has allowed me to reunite with John and Craig while allowing them to work from New York, where we have a growing team,” said Christian. “These two hires are critical investments in taking Proof to the elite level of mid-sized agency.”

Markus began his career at Ogilvy and then served at Deutsch before moving to McCann/NY where he co-founded TAG, the agency’s youth marketing division that helped launched Microsoft’s Xbox. He also led the U.S. Army account during its transition to its “Army Strong” positioning. More recently, Markus has served at Cramer-Krasselt NY and his own branding studio, Rage, Grace & Partners. In his new role, Markus will lead creative for all agency accounts.

It was at McCann/NY that Markus began working with Kottmann, who was leading strategy for clients across its portfolio. Kottmann co-managed the strategy department for several years, overseeing global planning for Mastercard, Coca-Cola, Capital One, Wendy's, Verizon and others. Later he served as U.S. Chief Strategy Officer at DDB.